ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607180060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER note: above
Clyde Bryant, the flamboyant Franklin County antiques dealer wanted by the FBI, ended his disappearing act Wednesday.
Bryant, accompanied by his lawyer, Harvey Lutins, turned himself in at noon at the FBI office in the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke.
The FBI had recently contacted people close to Bryant who put pressure on him to surrender, said David Burch, who heads the local office. Bryant called the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI over the past few days, Burch said.
Bryant's location when he made the calls was not disclosed.
After turning himself in Wednesday afternoon, Bryant was transported to Franklin County, where he was arraigned on three grand larceny charges. He's now an inmate again in the Franklin County Jail, where he spent months in the early 1980s for selling cocaine to an undercover state trooper.
Judge John Apostolou set no bond for Bryant pending a hearing which is likely to be scheduled this week.
Bryant, 51, also faces a number of lawsuits that accuse him of taking millions of dollars in loans that he didn't repay.
With his wrists handcuffed in front of him, Bryant said nothing to reporters who shouted questions at him outside the Franklin County Jail.
Inside the courtroom, Bryant told Apostolou:
"I have not been a fugitive. I was unaware of any warrants."
However, creditors and people close to Bryant say they talked to him about his imminent legal troubles months ago.
One creditor, Pete McGlaughlin of Montgomery County, Md., said he spoke with an emotional Bryant shortly before he vanished and Bryant told him "he was going under."
McGlaughlin says he represents a company that loaned Bryant about $300,000 that he hasn't paid back. The company, Noramac Properties, hasn't sued Bryant but holds liens on several properties that Bryant owned.
The FBI was in the process Wednesday of dismissing the fugitive warrant against Bryant. There are no other federal charges filed against him, but an investigation continues.
The three grand larceny charges in Franklin County were filed by Warner Dalhouse, retired chairman of First Union National Bank of Virginia; Andy Gehrken, a Martinsville doctor; and Julie Ann Heinrich, a resident of Fincastle.
The charges involve antique furniture that was given to Bryant to sell on consignment. Each of the three counts involve thousands of dollars worth of antiques.
Bryant, a former football team captain at William Byrd High School and an honor court justice at Emory & Henry College, began his problems with the law in 1979 when he was convicted for his role in bilking a Roanoke bank out of $75,000.
A year later, while on probation, he was charged and later convicted for selling cocaine to an undercover agent.
Bryant was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and started pulling his time in Roanoke County Jail.
There, he caused an internal squabble among jailers. Some thought he was receiving preferential treatment from other jail officers.
The sheriff at the time, O.S. Foster, was quoted as saying, "I don't think there was ever a morale problem there. I think there was a problem with this guy conning some people."
Bryant was later transferred to the Franklin County Jail, where he worked as a cook and a janitor in the courthouse.
He was just as popular in Franklin County, and he sent flowers to most county departments on the day he was released from jail in 1984.
A short time later, he married a wealthy Franklin County widow and opened his business - Franklin Antiques - located in an old service station across from Franklin Memorial Park on U.S. 220.
Eric Maus, who worked for Bryant, said his boss - who had contacts around the world - would spend a large amount of time on the phone negotiating business deals.
Bryant also spent a lot of time in Atlantic City playing blackjack, said Maus, who went along on several of the trips.
Maus said Bryant had a reserved table at the Caesar's Palace Casino there.
"It was all glamour with Clyde," he said.
Staff writer Jan Vertifueille contributed information to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART STAFF. Clyde Bryant arrives for hisby CNBarraignment in Rocky Mount Wednesday. color.